1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates generally to the field of alerting bells, and more specifically toward a bell whose alerting function can be quickly and easily disabled when necessary.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While mountain biking, it is a matter of safety to alert others using a trail when the mountain biker is descending. Because of the high speed of the descending bicycle, there is the possibility of collision with other users on the trial if they are not aware of the speeding bicycle's presence. Such collisions can occur with other bicycles, hikers or horseback riders. Horses can also be spooked by the sudden appearance of a quickly descending bicycle.
To act as an alert, prior art methods have included the use of bells. The first type of bell is the sort that can be activated by the movement of a trigger from one side to the other to make a single sound. Alternatively, a bell with a knocker has also been used.
There are limitations with these prior art methods, however. The first type of bell requires the cyclist to remove his hand from the handle bars to make repeated sounds as only one sound is made with one movement of the trigger. There are limitations to the alert made and there is the safety issue of the prolonged removal of the cyclist's hands from the handlebars.
For a more old fashioned bell, the problem is that there is no real way to stop it from ringing when you don't want it to, such as on the incline up a trail.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a bell to alert others on a trail that overcomes the limitations of the prior art.